Cline’s touchdown passes throw Waynesburg for loss
PITTSBURGH – Sam Benger rushed for 193 yards and a score, and backup quarterback Alex Cline threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes as Carnegie Mellon rallied to beat Waynesburg, 35-23, in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference football game Saturday afternoon at Gesling Stadium.
Waynesburg (0-1, 0-3), which has lost seven consecutive road games since winning the season opener last year at Muskingum, took a 17-14 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter when quarterback Jake Dougherty connected with wide receiver Tim Cooper on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
Cline, however, answered three minutes later with a four-yard scoring pass to John Prather that gave CMU (1-0, 1-1) the lead for good. Cline’s 10-yard TD pass to Alex Froimzon with 4:45 remaining pushed the Tartans’ lead to 28-17.
Cline completed seven of 11 passes for 121 yards.
Waynesburg battled back and Dougherty completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kevin Barnes to pull the Yellow Jackets to within 28-23 with 3:23 remaining.
Dougherty completed 22 of 39 passes for 259 yards and two scores. Barnes had seven receptions for 113 yards.
CMU secured the victory when Rory Hubbard scored on a four-yard run with 1:20 left in the game.
The teams played to a 7-7 standoff in the first half. Bryan Jangro, CMU’s starting quarterback, scored on a one-yard plunge early in the first quarter to give the Tartans the lead and Waynesburg tied the score when Whitney White capped an 80-yard drive in the second quarter with a three-yard run.
CMU took a 14-7 lead when Benger ran 22 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. Waynesburg’s Garret Guthrie made a 33-yard field goal to pull the Yellow Jackets to within 14-10 after three quarters.